We catch a train, blow our own horn, and learn why sometimes it’s good to be fireproof in our first hands-on time with the new Zelda DS.

We think we can say with some certainty that the failure to announce a new Zelda game for the Wii as rumoured at the Nintendo press conference probably disappointed the odd Nintendo devotee. That said, though no new Wii game was brought into the fold there, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which was announced at this year’s Game Developers Conference in March, is now finally playable.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks represents the second iteration of the long-running Zelda franchise brought to the DS handheld, and if our time and review of Phantom Hourglass serves as any indicator of what to expect, fans should be in for another special outing with everyone’s favourite little adventurer.

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Little Mac and a cast of mildly insane opponents return in this updated take on Nintendo’s old-school boxing franchise.

During last month’s Game Developers Conference, Nintendo had Punch-Out for the Wii playable on the show floor. We braved the crowds and spent a bit of time with it to see how the series has evolved since its last outing on the Super Nintendo 15 years ago. As it turns out, the game maintains a lot of the simplicity and eccentricity that made the original so appealing, while avoiding the pitfalls of excessive motion controls. Recently, though, we’ve been playing an updated build of Punch-Out here in the GameSpot offices in order to dig a little deeper into this updated take on Nintendo’s nostalgia-laden boxing series.

Bear Hugger is about to hug the living heck out of that bear.

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VP of marketing Joe Kreiner talks about the licensed game’s long road to release and the Texas studio’s plans for stoking interest in its Infernal Engine.

At last week’s 2009 Game Developers Conference, hundreds of developers were on hand to tout their wares and services. One was Terminal Reality, best known during the last console generation for its vampiric action series BloodRayne–which was subsequently made into two critically pilloried films by Uwe Boll.

Luckily, Terminal Reality’s first foray on current-generation consoles has a much more auspicious origin. The company is currently putting the finishing touches on Ghostbusters, based on the eponymous 1984 supernatural comedy classic starring Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray. All three actors are lending their voices and likeness to the game.

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Brain Age Express: Math, Master of Illusion, Bird & Beans, Art Style: Aquia all available day-one through newly redesigned handheld’s online store.

As part of the 2009 Game Developers Conference last week, DSi project lead Masato Kuwahara offered an in-depth look at the second revision of Nintendo’s best-selling handheld. One area the developer addressed was the DSi Shop, an online service that features downloadable games and other applications in a manner similar to its Wii Shop equivalent.

Today, Nintendo confirmed just what gamers can expect to find on the DSi Shop when it launches in the US on April 5. WarioWare: Snapped, which GameSpot previewed during this year’s GDC, is perhaps the highest profile of the five games that will be available on day one. Nintendo will also have on offer a new Brain Age title–Brain Age Express: Math–which focuses on the arithmetic portion of the gray-matter-growing franchise.

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Nintendo to reward purchasers of new handheld with downloadable game currency; Wii store welcomes coin-op classics Gaplus, Mappy, Star Force, and Tower of Druaga.

SAN FRANCISCO–Nintendo continued to flesh out its line of downloadable-game offerings with a handful of initiatives revealed today during company president Satoru Iwata’s keynote address.

Mappy’s a loose cannon, but he gets results.

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